Let’s start by being grateful for what we have and for everything Ben built. Whoogle became what it is because of a huge amount of work, care, and stubborn dedication on his part. We owe him more thanks than we can probably fit in a release note.
It’s a shame that Google seems to have abandoned the whole “Do No Evil” idea, but at least we still have a few paths that let us get most of what we need in a way that works for us. I’m also personally thankful for stumbling across a hidden stash of UA strings that opened up some new options. Digging through that pile led to a few experiments and, honestly, more hope than I expected. It might buy us some extra time while we keep collaborating with friends and rivals alike who are fighting the same fight. We’re still committed to simplicity and staying lightweight for Google’s sake. No Playwright. No Puppeteer. But we can definitely use the community’s brainpower to push toward something more durable.
In this release, we reverted the Mullvad Leta implementation. It served us well and we’re grateful for it, but it’s time to let it take its final voyage to Valhalla. In its place, we added a feature that can randomly generate UA strings based on patterns we found in the ones that still work. You can also bring your own rotating list or stick with a static UA if that’s your thing. There’s a config toggle that shows the active UA at the bottom of the results to help with debugging. On top of that, we added two small tools that let you generate offline UA lists and automatically test them. The second of which was instrumental in finding the working string patterns we’re using now.
We also found some additional UA strings and a couple other short term options, but for obvious reasons we’re not showing every card unless we must. It’d be great if Google left us alone this time, but I’m not holding my breath. If something breaks and I don’t catch it quickly enough, let me know. I’ll push another workaround for as long as we can keep this ship afloat.
If you have ideas for a real long term fix or want to help build one, drop into #1253. For example, what do you think about a bring-your-own Google Custom Search Engine key option? And if you’re a sympathetic Googler who wants to help or at least talk shop, the door is open.
To everyone else, thank you for your patience, your support, and your willingness to tinker with us. We’re doing our best to keep this project alive.
One last note. This release is marked beta so we can get real world feedback before the full release on the 26th when Leta disappears for good. Please test and let me know of any bugs. The only bug I’m aware of right now is that Image Search still throws the “Update your browser” message. I’ll be digging into that. Maps, Videos, and News are working again, so at least we’re in a better spot than we were yesterday.